The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-04-07
MEDICAL NOTES.
Useful and Instructive Information on
Various Scientific Subjects.

1
| Various Scientific Subjects.
The idea has lately been prominently
brought forward that certain disar-
rangements of vision are frequent
cause of chorea and neuralgia. One of
the most common and unsupported of
these disarrangements is declared to be
astigmatism, in which condition of the
eyes they fail to form definite image
the eyes bring perhaps the vertical
! rays to focus sooner than the hori-
ZOntal ones, so that there is not a clear,
defined image. An easy method of
testing the eyes for this mal-adjustment
is to draw on a sheet of white paper
parallel black lines, crossing them ut
right angles by similar black lines, put
ting them on the wall, and then stand
ing off at as great distance as they
can be seen, taking notice whether the
horizontal lines can be seen farther
than can the perpendicular ones. Eyes
not astigmatic would see them equally
clear at any distance.
The announced artificial formation of
cocaine by German chemist is thought
to be a first step toward cheapening the
production of this important alkaloid.
The method of preparation in this case
consists in heating benzOyl ecgOnine,
with slight excess of methyl iodide
and an equal volume of methyl alcohol.
in sealed tube at one hundred degrees
Cent. This is not exactly speaking an
artificial formati on of cocaine, but the
conversion into this base of another sub
stance contained in the cocoa leaves,
which has hitherto been a by-product of
little or no value. 1t is found that this by
product crystalizes in transparent
prisms, and the acetate and sulphate
also crystalize in prisms. By the SIM
pie action of hydro chloric acid in sealed
tubes at one hundred G. it is decom-
posed into methyl chloride, benzoic acid
and ecgonine.
The well-known nervous symptoms
commonly known as railway spine,"
would better be called, according to
Prof. Charcot, railway brain. Those
grave and tenacious nervous conditions,
he says, which follow upon collisions,
and which make it impossible for their
victims to pursue for months, or even
years, their accustomed occupations,
are often no more than hysteria; the
latter, therefore, should be known and
recognized in legal medicine, since
large interests are involved in the mat
ter, and it may come before tribunal
affected by the deeply-rooted prejudice
against the word ''hysteria. Five
years ago, when systematic attention
was first given to male hysteria, Klein
was able to collect only eighty cases of
the affection. but Batault has now
brought together list of 21S cases.
Prof. Charcot expresses the opinion
that such eases as these are not more
frequent than formerly, but that the
affection has become better studied
and more easily recognized.
The hypnoscope, invented by DR..
Ochorowiez, is claimed to readily dis
close a persons liability to mesmeric
influence or hypnotism, or the reverse.
1t is tubular magnet, the edges of the |
slit being north and south poles re-
spectively, its armature or keeper" of
soft iron closing the poles to preserve
the magnetism when the instrument is
not in use. To use it the armature is
taken off. and the forciinger thrust |
through the tube of the magnet, |
so that both holes are united through |
the finger itself. At the end of
two minutes the magnet is drawn
off and the person examined. 1t is
asserted that about thirty per cent. |
of the persons examined by this method
are found to have experienced some
peculiar objective or subjective sensa-
tons; some twenty per cent. an itching
or pricking of the finger, rs ii needle
points were entering the skin; others a
sense of GOODNESS, or of heat and dry
ness. Boston Herald.